NEW!!!!! UPDATE to online database for DSH
June 15, 2025 -- I SINCERELY APOLOGIZE THAT IT HAS TAKEN ME SO LONG TO ADD THE PEOPLE WHO DIED IN 1974. I HAVE NO EXCUSE. BUT HERE THEY ARE -- Mary A. Elizabeth Gibson, Nannette Ward, Charles Clark Riley, Rosalie Moore, Hattie E. Cochran, and Ethel Burkett. These records have been added to the online database of admission and clinical data (hospital records). A description of the database and instructions for its use -- VERY IMPORTANT -- are provided HERE. Please read this before attempting to find someone in the database. The database itself can be found by clicking on the link button ABOVE, which will download the Access database to your own computer, and you can then save it to your computer. If you want, you can also just email me and I will look up the information for you: [email protected]
NOTE: This website contains information about several research projects I have conducted at the Herman Holloway campus of DHSS of Delaware, located on Route 13 south of Wilmington. These projects include a history of the Delaware State Hospital, a database of patient admissions and clinical records for those patients admitted between 1884 and 1920 who died before 1975, links to the www.findagrave.com information about people buried in the Delaware State Hospital Cemetery (the "Spiral Cemetery", information about the history of the New Castle County Hospital (Almshouse), which closed in 1933, links to the www.findagrave.com information about people buried in the New Castle County Hospital/Farnhurst Potter's Field Cemetery (the "Cemetery in the Woods"), "Profiles in Obscurity" highlighting the stories of some of the people buried in the NCCH/FPF Cemetery, and links to other information such as a Timeline of the Potter's Fields of New Castle County (there have been many), and information about the book I wrote about select patients from the DSH, "Remembering Farnhurst." If you have any concerns or questions, feel free to email me at [email protected] I completed the work on identifying the people who were buried in the NCCH/FPF Cemetery, and we found over 3,000 individuals. I am now writing a book about select individuals buried in this cemetery, similar to "Remembering Farnhurst." It should be available for purchase sometime in mid-late 2026.
FACEBOOK PAGE for the "Historic Farnhurst Cemeteries" is available here:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100079316712524 (run by Dr. Faith Kuehn)
Find-A-Grave listings for the Delaware State Hospital/Spiral Cemetery: https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2417778/delaware-state-hospital-cemetery (779 burials)
Find-A-Grave listings for the New Castle County Hospital (Almshouse)/Farnhurst Potter's Field can be accessed here:
https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2568624/new-castle-county-hospital-cemetery
June 15, 2025 -- I SINCERELY APOLOGIZE THAT IT HAS TAKEN ME SO LONG TO ADD THE PEOPLE WHO DIED IN 1974. I HAVE NO EXCUSE. BUT HERE THEY ARE -- Mary A. Elizabeth Gibson, Nannette Ward, Charles Clark Riley, Rosalie Moore, Hattie E. Cochran, and Ethel Burkett. These records have been added to the online database of admission and clinical data (hospital records). A description of the database and instructions for its use -- VERY IMPORTANT -- are provided HERE. Please read this before attempting to find someone in the database. The database itself can be found by clicking on the link button ABOVE, which will download the Access database to your own computer, and you can then save it to your computer. If you want, you can also just email me and I will look up the information for you: [email protected]
NOTE: This website contains information about several research projects I have conducted at the Herman Holloway campus of DHSS of Delaware, located on Route 13 south of Wilmington. These projects include a history of the Delaware State Hospital, a database of patient admissions and clinical records for those patients admitted between 1884 and 1920 who died before 1975, links to the www.findagrave.com information about people buried in the Delaware State Hospital Cemetery (the "Spiral Cemetery", information about the history of the New Castle County Hospital (Almshouse), which closed in 1933, links to the www.findagrave.com information about people buried in the New Castle County Hospital/Farnhurst Potter's Field Cemetery (the "Cemetery in the Woods"), "Profiles in Obscurity" highlighting the stories of some of the people buried in the NCCH/FPF Cemetery, and links to other information such as a Timeline of the Potter's Fields of New Castle County (there have been many), and information about the book I wrote about select patients from the DSH, "Remembering Farnhurst." If you have any concerns or questions, feel free to email me at [email protected] I completed the work on identifying the people who were buried in the NCCH/FPF Cemetery, and we found over 3,000 individuals. I am now writing a book about select individuals buried in this cemetery, similar to "Remembering Farnhurst." It should be available for purchase sometime in mid-late 2026.
FACEBOOK PAGE for the "Historic Farnhurst Cemeteries" is available here:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100079316712524 (run by Dr. Faith Kuehn)
Find-A-Grave listings for the Delaware State Hospital/Spiral Cemetery: https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2417778/delaware-state-hospital-cemetery (779 burials)
Find-A-Grave listings for the New Castle County Hospital (Almshouse)/Farnhurst Potter's Field can be accessed here:
https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2568624/new-castle-county-hospital-cemetery
Remembering Farnhurst: Stories from the Delaware State Hospital, 1894-1920
Available from amazon.com for $38.95. The Table of Contents is provided here.
History of the Delaware State Hospital [for the Insane] at Farnhurst -- 1880s to 1920s
History of the New Castle County Hospital/Almshouse
Timeline of Potter's Fields
History of the Potters' Fields of New Castle County, Delaware including the New Castle County Hospital Cemetery/Farnhurst Potter's Field (1891-1933),the Moore's Lane Potters' Field (1934-1962) and the Boulden Boulevard Potters' Field (1962-1978). After Boulden Blvd. was closed, a Potter's field was opened next to the Baylor Women's Correctional Institute on Baylor Blvd., behind the Holloway campus. When it was filled up, new graves started being added to the outskirts of the DHS Spiral Cemetery, which is the site currently being used for indigent burials.
Available from amazon.com for $38.95. The Table of Contents is provided here.
History of the Delaware State Hospital [for the Insane] at Farnhurst -- 1880s to 1920s
History of the New Castle County Hospital/Almshouse
Timeline of Potter's Fields
History of the Potters' Fields of New Castle County, Delaware including the New Castle County Hospital Cemetery/Farnhurst Potter's Field (1891-1933),the Moore's Lane Potters' Field (1934-1962) and the Boulden Boulevard Potters' Field (1962-1978). After Boulden Blvd. was closed, a Potter's field was opened next to the Baylor Women's Correctional Institute on Baylor Blvd., behind the Holloway campus. When it was filled up, new graves started being added to the outskirts of the DHS Spiral Cemetery, which is the site currently being used for indigent burials.